Academic Researcher

Focus Reentry is committed to providing effective services to our clients. The program has engaged the services of Kyle Ward, Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC), who specializes in jail and prison reentry. Professor Ward has received a grant from UNC to evaluate the effectiveness of Focus Reentry's impact on recidivism. He is also reviewing Focus Reentry’s practices and developing research protocols to assure the program engages in best practices and achieves the best possible results for our clients.

Previous Research

Focus Reentry applies for grants to support ongoing research and development of best practices. In an ongoing effort to determine its effectiveness, Focus Reentry tracks recidivism rates for its clients who have successfully completed the program. In 2014, that rate was 17% and in 2015, it was 14%. That number is consistent with the results of the last comprehensive review of Focus Reentry’s results, conducted in 2011 by Northpointe Institute for Public Management.

Northpointe is an experienced and nationally recognized correctional consulting and research firm providing software products, consulting, training, and implementation services to federal, state, and local criminal justice systems and policy makers. With the support of the federal Justice Assistance Grant in 2011, Northpointe conducted a full evaluation of Focus Reentry’s program.

The results highlighted the program’s success:

Arrests during the study’s follow-up period (pg. 5):

Control group, 26

Focus Reentry clients, 9

Types of arrests (pg. 6):

Control group, 27% felony arrests

Focus Reentry, 0% felony arrests

The study concluded that the recidivism rate for Focus Reentry clients was 17%.